The present invention relates to a method and device for actuating specialized manipulating equipment in a drilled well which has at least one section sharply slanted with respect to a vertical or even a horizontal line.
It is known that specialized equipment such as, in particular, valves located in a well can be operated by lowering, by gravity, control members which, at the level of the members, trigger their operation. However, such members cannot be used to start devices located in sharply slanted well sections, and remain in the well after starting.
It is known that some of these control members can be recovered from the well by using the wire line cable operating technique, but this technique does not apply to sharply slanted wells.
It is known that devices can be controlled by pumping in a first direction, from the surface, a control member designed to cooperate with these devices in order to start them up, then reverse the pumping direction to bring the member back to the surface. However, such members, which can be used in sharply slanted or even horizontal wells, require pumping to be accomplished in two opposite directions.
Such techniques are described in particular in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,349,072, 3,656,562, 3,263,752, 2,752,855, and 2,999,545.
The object of the present invention is to furnish an assembly and an operating method which do not have the aforementioned drawbacks and which, in particular, make it possible selectively to control a large number of specialized operating equipment items such as valves, placing them in communication with a pipe from ground-level parts substantially separated hydraulically, at least to the level of the well.
Hence, the object of the present invention is to provide a method for actuating specialized equipment in a drilled well having at least one zone sharply slanted with respect to the vertical, with the drilled well having at least one first tubular pipe along which the equipment is remotely installed, wherein a control member is inserted into the first tubular pipe, and a cable is attached to one end of the member. The control member is lowered into the tubular pipe by downward hydraulic pumping, and the cable is paid into the tubular pipe from the surface. The control member is raised by pulling on the cable from the surface, and the specialized equipment is slectively actuated when the control member passes flush with the equipment as it is being lowered or raised. Advantageously, according to the present invention, at the surface of the ground, the control member is equipped at its circumference with at least one key sliding bolt. The key sliding bolt is adapted to cooperate with a control seat of one of the specialized equipment items whose shape matches the sliding bolt. The control member is moved into the first pipe so that it comes up flush against a selected equipment item. The key sliding bolt is interlocked with the seat associated with the equipment, and movement of the member actuating the equipment is prolonged. Once the maneuver has been carried out, the key sliding bolt is disengaged from the seat, and the control member is raised to the surface.
In one particular embodiment of the invention, wherein the first pipe is a tubular control column and the specialized equipment items are valves for producing fluid from geological formations traversed by the well, the valves are controlled by the control member, and fluid flows into the control column, with the fluid being brought to the surface in a second pipe constituting a production column connected at a lower end thereof, with a lower end of the tubular column.
The present invention also applies to a device for actuating specialized equipment in a drilled well having at least one zone sharply slanted with respect to the vertical, with the drilled well having at least one first tubular pipe along which said equipment is remotely installed. A control member is introduced into the first tubular pipe and is connected to the surface by a cable at one of its ends. A hydraulic downward pumping means moves the member into the tubular pipe, and means are provided for paying the cable into the tubular pipe. Pulling means pull on the cable from the surface, and means are provided for selectively controlling the specialized equipment when the control member passes flush with the equipment when lowered or raised.
Advantageously, the control member has at its circumference at least one key sliding bolt able to cooperate with a control seat of a specialized equipment item which matches the key sliding bolt in shape.
In one particular embodiment, the device also has means for interlocking the key sliding bolt with the associated seat, means for driving the equipment by the member when interlocking takes place, and means for disengaging the key sliding bolt when the maneuver has been carried out.
According to one preferred embodiment, wherein the first pipe is a tubular control column and the specialized equipment items are valves producing fluid from geological formations traversed by the well, the device also has a second pipe constituting a production column connected at its lower end with the lower end of the tubular control column.
Advantageously, the device has a pump located in the production column.
The present invention also relates to a system for producing fluid from a geological formation traversed by a drilled well having a device for actuating equipment such as that already described, characterized by the well being divided into several separate production zones isolated from each other by sealing means of the packer type, with at least one valve being disposed in a production zone.